Mission Statement - The Northern California Chapter of URISA is dedicated to serving its constituent region through professional development activities, objective educational outreach, open networking opportunities, and advocacy for effective uses of geospatial technologies and information.

Vision Statement - To become the essential professional organization for urban and regional information systems practitioners in the Northern California region, promoting both the individuals and organizations engaged in the use and integration of geospatial information technologies for the management and improvement of both the environment and our communities.

Contact Information:

Christina Boggs-Chavira is an Engineering Geologist with the California Department of Water Resources. Christina was conference chair for CalGIS in 2015. In 2013 Christina was voted URISA International’s Chapter Advisory Board Chair-Elect, she served as URISA International’s Chapter Advisory Board Chair for the 2014/2015 fiscal year including serving as a non-voting member of the URISA International Board. Christina is also an advisory board member for Geohipster and she runs the twitter account for @womeningis.

Carrie Carsell is a Senior GIS/Visual Communications Specialist and has worked with GIS and graphic design since 1998. Carrie focuses exclusively on advanced spatial analysis and converting technical information into attractive and effective illustrations for communication. She's a passionate believer in the importance of compelling visual images for advocacy, public education and enabling decision makers to solve social and environmental issues.

Carrie’s experience with GIS includes system administration of the Enterprise Geographic Information System environment as well as planning, designing, developing, and implementing solutions which provide GIS based mapping and analysis functionality and tools to her customers. She manages GIS related tasks by providing planning, scheduling, resourcing, monitoring and reporting services. Carrie is able to utilize GIS information on all levels to perform complex geographic analysis, project consequences of proposed actions, and identify alternate solutions and provide recommendations.

Carrie is also passionate about enhancing other people’s careers and skillsets. She has given a variety of training sessions to staff across her company on a wide assortment of advanced graphic software and analysis techniques. She is compelled by a team-oriented atmosphere, and is usually focused on the GIS!

Diane Mastalir works as a GIS Specialist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as the GIS provider for two branches. Her dual bachelor’s degrees, in Botany and Geography/GIS, enable her to combine GIS skills with environmental knowledge to facilitate her work at the Department. She has worked as a GIS professional since 1995, when she joined a mitigation banking start-up as a botanist/GIS analyst and was assigned with setting up mitigation bank monitoring and creating as-built’s using Mac-based GIS. She enjoys working on conservation-related projects, especially those requiring cartography or analysis, but is also happy making simple maps or doing “grunt-work” (e.g. digitizing). Her involvement in URISA gives her an opportunity to contribute to the GIS profession.

Jane discovered GIS while working as a secretary in the California Department of Water Resources (DWR.) While earning her GIS certificate at American River College she became a GIS Analyst for DWR in 2007, providing GIS support for a team of water resources engineers. In 2016 she moved to a new position in DWR and now serves as the technical lead for the National Hydrography Dataset Stewardship Program. She’s been a board member for NorCal URISA since 2013, served as chapter president in 2016, and serves on the planning committees for the CalGIS conferences. In her other life she is the coordinator of a Community Garden which is near her home in Davis.

Maria Clay is a GIS Research Program Specialist for the Labor Market Information Division of The Employment Development Department. Maria has being doing GIS since 2004 and began her career in GIS by pure luck and has never looked back. Maria currently uses GIS to analyze and map employment information and statistics. She really enjoys using GIS for emergency management. Maria really enjoys working in a collaborative environment with amazing colleagues along with meeting new people and learning how the different ways they use GIS.

When Maria is not doing GIS, she enjoys music, reading, being outside hiking and biking and travelling to new places.

Board Members at Large

Christina Brunsvold is a GIS Specialist for the California Energy Commission (CEC) and a Masters Candidate for Geographic Information Science and Technology at the University of Southern California. Christina learned about GIS while completing an A.S. in GIS from American River College and incorporating GIS into the renewable energy program at the CEC. She currently uses GIS to forecast energy demand, consumption, and efficiency for the State of California. Christina was also selected as a member of the URISA Vanguard Cabinet for 2018-2020.

Chuan-Shin is Remote Sensing and GIS scientist and has worked on a wide variety of projects across diverse industries including forestry, environmental, and agricultural. Chuan-Shin also has FAA Part 107 UAV Pilot and Vapor 55 manufacturer UAV Pilot certifications.